


Uno!

by Waterlemon



Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angry John, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Just pretend uno existed during that time period, M/M, Protective Arthur, Uno gone wrong, bratty John
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:47:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28178610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Waterlemon/pseuds/Waterlemon
Summary: The boys decide to play this weird new card game called Uno and John has anger issues.
Relationships: John Marston/Arthur Morgan
Comments: 11
Kudos: 26





	1. Feeling blue

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing about red dead and it’s been a while since I last wrote something so sorry if the sentences are weird and I wrote this on mobile.  
> This is inspired by a short funny clip I saw on Instagram.  
> Uno did not exist then but let’s pretend it did okay thank you. I hope you like it.

The sun sat low in the sky, casting a warm color over the river nearby; a gentle mix between orange, yellow, and blue. It looked like it was about to set, but not yet. Maybe in a few hours. The camp was quiet except for the calm tune Javier was playing on his worn out guitar, and the soft clatter of the stew pot being taken away by Pearson to clean up. The soft footsteps of Abigail, Susan, Mary-Beth, and jack faded from the camp as they made their way down to the river, each of the ladies holding a basket full of clothes while jack had his toy stick with him.

“Who goes there?!” Sadie’s voice echoed vaguely through the camp from where she was standing guard at the front of the camp in Horseshoe Overlook, hidden among the trees. The sound of multiple pairs of hooves hitting the earth became louder as the riders came closer to camp.

“We’re back from Valentine, dumbass!” It was Arthur’s voice that replied to Sadie.

“Good to see you back in one piece.” Replied Sadie as she lowered her rifle, always ready and on guard. She watched as six horses and their riders entered the camp.

The first two were Arthur and John. Their reason to go into town was to get more ammunition for an upcoming robbery. 

She wondered why the two looked a bit disheveled as they rode in. Johns hair was messier than it usually was, his cheeks were pink and his shirt looked a mess; like how a child would wear a shirt by itself for the first time. It could be the heat. The sun was shining intensity this day after all.

As for Arthur, the burly man looked particularly smug and satisfied as he dismounted his giant thoroughbred horse. His clothes weren’t as messy as johns’, and his hat covered what might’ve been a messy head of hair as well. 

The other four were Lenny, Sean, Bill, and Uncle. Initially, Hosea only wanted to send Lenny and Sean to get medicine and other supplies for the camp since they were getting short on those. Bill and Uncle happened to be around when Hosea spoke to the two young men, and they decided to tag along for “fresh air” as they said.

“Hi, Mrs. Adler!” Lenny smiled and waved at her as he went in. Polite as always.   
  


“Oh m’darlin’, oh m’darlin, oh m’darlin, clementine...” sang Sean along with uncle, clearly drunk as they sang with slurred words and burps in between.

Bill came in last, swaying on his saddle, looking like he was ready to fall off just about now. It was clear as day the bearded man was also drunk, but instead of singing happily like uncle and Sean, he seemed in a bad mood. A grumpy man he was.

“Looks like you boys had fun..” Sadie chuckled and turned away to continue guarding the camp, assuming the men found each other in the small town and decided to get shit-faced at the saloon before coming back. She thanked the lord she had guard duty at this time, sensing that the mood of the camp was about to shift to either a good or bad one with these drunken fools coming in like that.

“Boys! Glad to see you’re back all together. How was the trip? Did you get the supplies?” Hosea appeared from behind one of the wagons, having heard the loud voices from the entrance of the camp. The man nodded at Arthur as he passed him on the way to Lenny and Sean to grab the things he sent them to get.

Hosea frowned when he noticed his boys looking flustered and unorganized. “Oh, don’t tell me you went to the saloon instead!” The old man put a hand on his temple, sensing a beginning of a headache forming. “John, what happened? You look like you were attacked by a bear without the claws and teeth. And Sean, Bill...uncle.” He clenched his jaw and shook his head at them when they tried defending themselves with words that sounded gibberish to him.

“Don’t worry, Hosea. We got the supplies you wanted. These guys just decided to have a...few drinks ‘s all.” Lenny chimed in, handing the paper bags to Hosea. The young man seemed sober and that calmed Hosea a little.

“Good. Thank you, son, for getting the supplies and not partaking in getting drunk like these fools. It’s not even six o’clock and they’re all ready to pass out.” He said with a heavy sigh.

“Hey! I ain’t drunk! Kind of...” John said defensively as he ran his fingers through his hair to tame it, blushing furiously at the realization of how messy he looked. Good thing he could blame the beer. He shot a glare at Arthur who looked completely fine, sitting at the round table near the campfire.

“Who cares?! I knocked a man out in the saloon!” Sean exclaimed with a big smile on his face as if he just remembered the event.

Hosea heaved another sigh. “I told you boys to stay out of trouble. What part of stay out of trouble do you not understand?” He lectured, though there wasn’t any anger behind his voice since heknew how Valentine was. Someone always had to be knocked out in that damn saloon, wether it’s from the alcohol, or a punch in the face.

“Uncle, help me with the things.” Hosea gestured at the paper bags before walking away to the medicine wagon.

“I-I can’t, Hosea! My lumbago is killin’ me!” Uncle complained and made his way to the campfire, grabbing a beer bottle whole he’s at it. He half sat, half laid down against a log. In a second, the old lumbago man was snoring away with his hat protecting his eyes from the hot sun.

—

The two heavily drunk men, and Lenny, sat at the round table with Arthur and John. The boys were enjoying a game of what Lenny called “Uno”. Instead of being drunk back in Valentine, he sat down with a fella who enjoyed card games. The strange man just happened to teach Lenny how to play it, so Lenny was excited to show his friends the new card game. They’ve been at it for a while now since the rules were simple.

“Summers, does this game happen to have a rule where Sean has to shut the hell up?” Bill groaned, hearing the Irishman repeating his brawl story for the tenth time. He was trying to focus on which card to play.

“Marston saw it, I swear! Tell’em, cowboy!” Sean slapped a hand on john’s bony shoulder, earning an irritated grunt from the black-haired man. The Irishmen held a whiskey bottle in his other hand and waved it around as he spoke, his own cards were face down on the table to prevent anyone from peeking. He was next in turn, waiting for Bill to decide his next move. The bearded man was thinking way too hard for a simple game where all he had to do is to toss a card the same color or number as the last one in the pile.

John rolled his eyes, holding his cards closer to his chest when he noticed Arthur’s blue-green eyes darting his way. he blushed for reasons he wasn’t sure of. Maybe because of the way the man was looking at him. He was definitely trying to cheat. Damn cheater. He turned his head to Sean to reply in an annoyed tone, “That dumb feller was already drunk out of his mind-“

“Ey, don’t be like that!” Sean interrupted before John could insult him. He leaned an arm against his knee and smirked at him. “You’re just jealous it wasn’t you who I knocked out cold!” He said, sporting a smug look when he saw the confusion on john’s slightly pink face, thinking he got him with his amazing comeback. He knocked a man out cold for the first time with his bare hands and he was proud of it.

“Simmer down,” Arthur chuckled, glancing at John once more. He was glad the boy sat next to him so he could see his features better. The soft pink tone across his cheeks were still there from earlier. He though it was adorable. Arthur reluctantly moved his eyes to the drunk Sean. “We’re celebrating ain’t we? Just play the damn game instead of repeating that story a dozen times. Bill, what the hell are you doin’?”

Bill grumbled something under his breath and finally played a blue 4, tossing it carelessly on top of the red 4. John’s eyes slightly widened at that. His turn was after Sean and he prayed that the fool would change the color back to red or anything else than blue.

Sean shrugged and took a sip of alcohol before picking up his cards. He easily played a blue card and smiled proudly at his move. “I just keep winnin’ today, don’t I?” He rejoiced before taking another sip.

Lenny rolled his eyes. “Sean, you still have a few cards left. You win when you’re out of cards.” He snickered. “Not that you’re winnin’ anyway...” He ducked when the Irishman tried socking him on the head. “I said what I said!”

John cursed silently, ignoring the two since he has his own problems to deal with. This game was so simple that it would be embarrassing for him to lose since he considered himself a decent player when it came to cards. He just needed to win this game since it was nothing compared to poker or blackjack.

John sighed at the lack of blue cards in his playing hand. This isn’t looking good so far. Everyone had a few cards left and he’s the only one with more than five. He slowly reached out to the draw pile. He closed his eyes, hoping it’s a blue. Once the card was in his hands and he opened his eyes back up, he let out a sigh of relief. Good. A blue card.

“We haven’t got all day, Johnny.” Arthur drawled, a small smile playing on his lips. He noticed how seriously john was taking this game and it was quite amusing to the older man.

“Shut up, Morgan.” John mumbled, his heart rate increasing with the tone Arthur used on him. That damn tone that would make him feel all funny on the inside. Funny in a good way. John blushed harder and decided to not think about that more than he should right now and played the damn blue card before looking at Arthur to play his turn. 

“I think this game bullshit if anything. I have never in my life heard about it. I can’t believe I’m betting over this.” Bill muttered grumpily, eyeing the bets placed on the table. They were the valuables they pickpocketed from strangers in Valentine.

Arthur played a blue draw 2 card. “I enjoy it.” Arthur shrugged before he felt Lenny’s elbow hitting his side, causing the older man to chuckle.

“This is the fifth time you hit me with a draw 2, Arthur. You’re cruel to me.” Lenny shook his head and drew two cards before playing a blue one. “And it is a real card game!” He insisted, addressing what Bill said earlier.

John held back a giggle at how irritated Lenny seemed. He couldn’t blame him. Arthur kept playing draw 2 cards on him. 

“Better not pull that draw 2 shit on me.” Bill muttered to Lenny before playing another blue card.

A frown fell upon John’s features when he saw that no one had changed the color. He had all the colors but blue and it was starting to agitate him. His heart raced at the thought of losing this stupid game. He just had to hope that Sean would play a card other than blue, or a number that John might have. He inhaled sharply when Sean played a blue 1.

“Goddam it.” John muttered softly to himself. He did not have a blue, nor a 1. He drew a card, and it was green. He frowned and drew another one, and another one.

“What the hell?!” His bursted, annoyance and anger taking over. He kept drawing cards, eyebrows drawn together in a deep frown

“Greatest card player my ass.” Arthur cackled as he watched his boy pathetically adding more cards to his playing hand. Thing was looking like a mountain.

“What. The. Fuck!” John exclaimed, voice echoing across the camp, causing the other players to stifle their laughter. “Are you serious?!” He yelled when not a single blue or a number 1 card appeared in his hand. He was easily getting more and more frustrated, the hand with the cards gripping them so tightly, causing them to wrinkle.

Sean began laughing at how ridiculous it was getting, causing the other to burst out laughing as well.

“What is this game?!” John screamed directly at the draw pile. “Give. Me. A. Blue. Card! Dammit!” He was too angry that he had to stand up as he continued to draw more and more cards. He probably had about twenty in his hand.

The others were close to tears. The game really had something against the young man for doing him dirty like that.

“Holy shit!” John shouted, having lost his temper just before a blue card appeared and he almost kissed it. He’s never thought he’d be so happy to see a blue card in his sad life. Despite that, he was still heaving from his episode, face hot and red.

“Jesus!” Arthur wheezed, chest hurting from all the laughing he’s done. He’s never laughed this much in a good while. It wasn’t unusual for John to get to that point. The boy always was short-tempered and would go off at anyone who looked at him funny. “Easy boy!” Arthur looked at John just to make sure didn’t hurt himself...or anyone else. If looks could kill though, everyone on this table would be dead.

The music had stopped playing the moment John started to scream. Javier waited patiently even though he was slightly annoyed by the unnecessary yelling going on. Once it was over, he continued strumming, ignoring uncle’s complaints about all the noise.

John took that blue card he got and aggressively chucked it at the pile with a pout on his face, ignoring his asshole friends who were still cackling, Sean being doubled over and Lenny almost falling from his chair. John sat back down, panting slightly without realizing it.

Arthur’s mouth may be stifling a laugh but his eyes showed everything. He was trying his best not to laugh and he had this mischievous look on his face. He noticed John glaring at him then everyone at the table.

“Oh-oh my god!” Lenny was clutching his stomach, trying to catch his breath while Bill was smacking his own thigh and cackling at the situation, the alcohol making it ten times funnier.

Sean, with tears running down his face from laughing, caught the look Arthur had and he immediately knew whatever Arthur was going to do, it’s a bad idea.

“No! Don’t do it! Don’t do it!” Sean wheezed, eyes watering again as he tried to stifle another laugh.

John looked at Sean then Arthur, a deep scowl on his face, not understanding what was happening. Then he saw it. The card that Arthur just played

A reverse blue card. 

Lenny and Bill were laughing their asses off while Sean and Arthur just stared at John, trying their best to stop from laughing, the veins on their forehead almost popped. Only reason why Sean’s holding back is because he’s sitting next to the angry young man who looked like he was about to kill someone at any second now.

John was oddly calm and silent, breathing though his flared nostrils. He drew a card with a tiny bit of hope that it would be blue. 

It wasn’t. 

“I DON’T HAVE A BLUE CARD!” He exploded, drawing more cards again. Arthur and Sean were sure they were going to die from laughing, either that or John killing them himself.

John screeched and stood up, kicking the table over. Bill quickly stood up to move away before the table could hit him. Cards were flying everywhere.

“Screw this game! Screw you!” John fumed, throwing his own cards at his secret boyfriend before storming off at the direction of the river. He did not want the others to see the tears stinging his eyes from the frustration.

“Ah shit! Johnny, wait!” Arthur laughed, covered his face and let the cards smack his arm instead. He shouldn’t have laughed this hard but John being that angry over a card game was hysterical, but he knew laughing at him came with a price. That price being John avoiding him or being mad at him for the rest of the day.

“What the hell is going on?!” Hosea marched up to the laughing men, seeing the table flipped over and playing cards everywhere. He did hear the yelling but didn’t think much of it, seeing that they were drunk, but when he heard the table being flipped, he knew he had to intervene.

“You boys better clean that up or Susan will have your asses!” Hosea shook his head at them. Everyone knew how Susan gets when someone makes a mess in the camp.

“Hey! We ain’t done nothing! Marston done lost his shit and decided to ruin the damn game.” Bill defended, raising his hands up and shrugging before pulling out a cigarette. “Not our fault he’s a sore loser.”

“Shut the hell up, Bill.” Arthur glared at Bill, disliking the way he spoke about his boy.

Bill only snorted and started heading to the campfire. “That’s the truth.”

“No need for any of that now.” Arthur said, his voice deep and low, not wanting to cause a commotion with Bill even though that man was annoying sometimes with how he speaks. Arthur then went and picked the table back up to set it the way it was before. He ran a hand over the surface to make sure it wasn’t cracked and the pronghorn leather wasn’t damaged.

“I’ll help.” Lenny offered while giggling a bit. He started picking up the cards while Sean quietly snuck away to avoid cleanup.

“I’ll go check on John.” Arthur said, biting his lip, feeling a little bit guilty. He let out a a chuckle before clearing his throat.

“‘s not funny.” Arthur told Lenny who began chuckling again. He shook his head, smiling, before making his way down by the river to comfort his brat.


	2. The Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arthur comforts John.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here’s the fluff!

Johns footsteps were loud and heavy as he practically stomped his way down by where the river was, far from where the ladies were settled, doing the laundry. The atmosphere there was calm and quiet, contrasting the young man’s emotions. The gentle splash of water hitting against rocks while moving down the stream was drowned by the pulse John could feel in his ear. The young man never behaved in such manner whenever he lost a card game. In fact, it had little to do with that and more with what happened in Valentine.

John angrily wiped at his eyes, feeling ridiculous that playing that Uno game broke the last straw. Great, now everyone’s going to tease him for it for the rest of his life. He blamed it mostly on the alcohol he drank, making him burst like that. Alcohol always boosted his emotions. 

“Stupid fuckin’ game,” he muttered and kicked a pebble into the river before plopping down onto the soft dirt in front of a rock he could lean against.

A few minutes have passed while John stared hard at the ground, surprised there wasn’t a hole there already. His shoulders tensed as he heard footsteps coming from behind him, he knew it wasn’t a stranger since he was still near camp, so he didn’t even need to grab his pistol. 

John saw a familiar pair of boots step right in front of him, right at the spot he’s been staring at for quite a while. The shadow of the man casted over John, blocking his view, not that he was enjoying it in the first place. 

“Leave me alone, Morgan.” John glared at the mud smeared across the man’s boots, ignoring the way his heart fluttered at how the man came to check on him. Not that he needed someone to check on him. Arthur was just different. 

Arthur squatted in front of John so he could look at the younger man’s face. He could see the frustration written all over it. His scars were still red and recovering. Arthur reached up and removed his hat, placing it near his leg, revealing his messy dirty blond hair. 

“You okay?” He asked in his gravelly voice, unaware of the way it affected John, how it sent shivers through his body.

“I’m not talkin’ to you, asshole.” John avoided looking at the elder male. He could smell the man from how close he was sitting. Like sweat and tobacco. John would be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy it. 

“But you are,” Arthur reached his hand towards John’s chin to make the younger looked up at him, but the younger just adverted his eyes to the side.

“I was gonna win, y’know?” Arthur smirked when he saw the corner of John’s lips twitch but he didn’t get a reply from him.

“Look at me, sweetheart.” Arthur drawled, voice deep and low enough to send another wave of shivers through the younger again. John couldn’t help but to look up at him and immediately felt a sense of calm spread through him. He already calmed down the second he felt Arthur’s presence. 

“I’m never playing Uno again. Or whatever the hell it’s called.” John mumbled before his breath hitched as Arthur moved the hand on his chin up to his face where a strand of hair fell loose. Arthur tucked it behind his ear to see his face better then began leaning closer. John quickly moved his face to the side at the last second, making the older man kiss his cheek instead of his lips. 

“Are you that mad about the reverse card I played or is this your way of payback?” Arthur was talking about how he teased him mercilessly while they were in Valentine. 

“Both.” John answered stubbornly, trying his best to ignore the urge to jump on that damn fool and kiss him, though he was worried someone might see them. Their relationship wasn’t exactly public since they knew there are people in the gang who won’t tolerate them being together. It took a long while for both men to admit they liked each other. It took one of them almost dying to admit what they truly felt. Even then, Arthur used to be conflicted and hesitant, but with time, both found themselves finding excuses to ride out together to mess around, or simply just spend time together like hunting or just searching for treasure. John liked to call it a date even though he never said it out loud. They just never really talked about their future. They liked how things were right now. No one had to know. Not now anyways.

“I’ll make it up to ya’...” Arthur’s thumb caressed John’s cheekbone, causing the younger man’s face to burn up. It only made Arthur lean in again and started peppering kisses all over the side oh John’s face, smiling when he felt the younger squirm under his touch. 

John wasn’t sure if he wanted to back off, which was impossible due to the rock behind him, or to kiss Arthur as hard as he could. That man had to audacity to act as if nothing had happened. 

Arthur’s kept kissing John’s face, anywhere but his lips since the younger was moving his head around to avoid a kiss to prove a point or something. 

“Johnny...” Arthur chuckled, both his hands cupping the younger’s cheeks to stop him from turning away. “Let me kiss you, baby.” He whispered.

The petname made John melt on the inside. He looked up at Arthur, the only man who could make him get all damn soft and flustered. 

“Who you callin’ a baby?” John snorted, wanting to look away, but those blue eyes had John right under their spell.

Arthur grinned and leaned in instead of answering to kiss him square on the lips, putting his all into that kiss and made sure John felt it. He felt the younger man slightly tremble before he pulled back, smiling when John tried to follow his lips, whimpering.

“You didn’t answer my question.” Arthur stopped the black haired man from kissing him again, but their faces stayed close. Arthur could feel their lips touch as they spoke. 

John gave Arthur a confused look.

“You okay?” Arthur asked again. He wanted to make sure John wasn’t hurt, which left John’s heart feeling like it was squeezed. 

“I will be if you kept kissing me.” He answered, fed up with the teasing since Valentine. He wasn’t going to allow Arthur to continue teasing him.

Arthur immediately leaned back in with a smile to close the small gap between them, feelings John’s hands move up to tangle his fingers in the older man’s hair, letting out a soft sigh. 

The kiss went on for a few minutes before John pulled back to breathe. “How are you gonna make it up to me?” He asked with a small smile, feeling himself twitch in his pants from the kiss. 

Arthur licked his lips, noticing how John’s eyes followed his tongue’s movement. “I’ll show you tonight.” 

John’s face fell. “Tonight?!” He said with a frown. 

Arthur leaned back and gave him a nod. “We can’t exactly do anythin’ now, can we? Not without anyone wonderin’ where the hell we are since we just came back from Valentine. Unless you want head into your tent now and let everyone hear all your screamin’.” Arthur smirked at the cute, embarrassed look John got. 

“Very funny.” John rolled his eyes. He knew Arthur was right. They can’t leave now. It’s too suspicious.   
  
“We can stay here though and...just-“ John sighed. “Cuddle me.” He muttered quietly, voice barely audible.

“What?” Arthur didn’t catch that.

John groaned, knowing how sappy he sounds. “Cuddle me.” He repeated, cheeks burning with slight embarrassment. He would never speak to anyone like that unless it’s Arthur. 

Arthur gave a soft chuckle before he sat down properly next to his lover before pulling him close to his sturdy chest. The younger man immediately wrapped his arms around Arthur’s torso, wanting to be as close as possible. Being in the man’s arms made him forget all about Uno and all other problems he had. John sighed heavily and buried his face into Arthur’s chest. 

“I love you.” 

“I know.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me your thoughts and how I could improve lt<3 I hope y’all enjoyed this.


End file.
